The present invention relates to a trough bridge with a plane roadway and upward extending side walls of the type generally disclosed in European Patent No. 0,290,405 A1.
An object of the present invention is to provide a bridge which may be stacked or nested together for transport purposes such that the smallest possible transport dimensions are attained.
This object has been attained in accordance with the present invention by a bridge which is constructed of individual modules which can be nested on each other so as to result in a stack with the smallest practical height.
The bridge according to the present invention is a trough bridge with a plane roadway situated on the bottom and into which the bottom chords are integrated, and with upward extending side walls on whose upper ends are arranged the top chords of the supporting structure.
The bridge of the present invention is dividable longitudinally into an arbitrary number of modules, the length of which may be adapted to the available transport length. Each individual bridge module can be used as an individual bridge without requiring additional components such as, e.g., ramps.
The individual bridge modules are nested into each other for transport such that a very small transport height is attained.
Among the advantages of the bridge according to the present invention are small transport dimensions at a large structural height; no ramps or ramp angles are required due to the plane roadway; adequate visibility of the bridge for vehicles entering or crossing the bridge; short bridges and central sections are identical, meaning that large bridges may be constructed of several small bridges.
In order to reduce the width for transport, the lateral parts of the bridge consisting of the side walls and the roadway slabs are pushed together. According to an additional preferred embodiment of the present invention, the central roadway slabs are initially folded on the outer regions of the roadway perpendicular to the roadway direction, and both lateral parts of the bridge are subsequently pushed together.
The individual bridge elements may be connected with each other via a bolt or a hammer coupling. Sections of installation beams and/or transverse girders may be accommodated in the upper bridge module of the stack so as to reduce the transport space.
In further embodiment in which the lateral part of the individual modules are pushed together for transport purposes, the bridge is installed advantageously module-by-module from bottom to top.
In still other embodiments in which the lateral parts of the bridge are not pushed together for transport purposes, the bridge is installed advantageously module-by-module from top to bottom.